I read and listened to some of the previous testimony, and I know they mentioned some countries internationally, such as Sweden and Norway. One of the things you find there—again, it's what others have said before—is that their approach to the issue of pay equity has been wide-ranging, not only in terms of the legislative actions they have taken, such as the minimum wage, access to affordable day care, non-gendered parental leave, and those kinds of things, but also in terms of the representation of women on boards and in leadership. All of that has helped.
Then you look at their partnership, as I mentioned, with the private sector.
When you have all of this working together, with the kind of legislation that is being passed, that puts pressure, I think, on the private sector to really step up. They want to be good, to close their gaps, and to be seen as examples. I think that's why you're having those situations internationally. There are good partnerships going on, and you also have the legislative action as well as the actions that the businesses are taking upon themselves.
In countries where the gaps are bigger, you have a lot of cultural issues. In Japan, for example, the Abe administration is doing a lot of work. They have recognized what the business case is for increasing women's representation. They have to do it, because they are losing their labour force, but there are a lot of cultural issues they have to break through in terms of the way they see women and women's roles in society. It takes a long time.
Unfortunately, because this is so complex, it's something we need to act on immediately. It will take time to break down those societal barriers.